Among ceramic electronic components, multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCCs) include a plurality of stacked dielectric layers, internal electrodes disposed to face each other with one of the dielectric layers interposed therebetween, and external electrodes electrically connected to the internal electrodes.
MLCCs have been widely used as components in computers, mobile communications devices such as personal digital assistants (PDAs), mobile phones, and the like, due to advantages such as a small size, high capacitance, ease of mounting, and the like.
Recently, as electronic products have been miniaturized and multi-functionalized, chip components have also tended to be miniaturized and multi-functionalized. Therefore, a small sized multilayer ceramic capacitor having a high degree of capacitance is in demand.
To this end, a multilayer ceramic capacitor in which an increased number of dielectric layers are stacked with decreased thicknesses of dielectric layers and internal electrode layers has been manufactured, and external electrode thicknesses have also been reduced.
In addition, as various functions of devices and apparatuses in fields requiring high degrees of reliability, such as those of vehicles or medical devices, have been digitalized and demands thereon have increased, high degrees of reliability are also required in multilayer ceramic capacitors.
Factors causing problems in terms of the implementation of high degrees of reliability, as described above, may include the infiltration of a plating solution occurring at the time of a plating process, crack generation due to external impacts, and the like.
Therefore, as a means for solving such problems, a resin composition containing a conductive material is applied between an electrode layer of the external electrode and a plating layer to absorb external impacts and prevent the infiltration of the plating solution, thereby improving product reliability.
However, in the case of providing a conductive resin layer between the electrode layer of the external electrode and the plating layer, an interface separation phenomenon may occur between the conductive resin layer and the plating layer, and a plating defect in which a non-plated region is formed at the time of forming the plating layer on the conductive resin layer may occur.
Therefore, a multilayer ceramic capacitor capable of decreasing the incidence of such an interface separation phenomenon between the conductive resin layer and the plating layer and a non-plating defect is required.